This excerpt is from How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick: Restoring Health and Wellness to Our Communities by Atlanta-based authors, Breanna Lathrop and Veronica Squires.They write:“Being poor literally shortens your life span. When considering race, gender, employment, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and household income, household income is the strongest predictor of mortality.” Here is a short excerpt that explores the question, what will make my neighbors healthy? Poverty is a strong predictor of mortality and a critical social determinant of health. The Department of Health and Human Services lists poverty as a key component of economic stability. Being poor literally shortens your life span. When considering race, gender, employment, neighborhood socioeconomic status, and household income, household income is the strongest predictor of mortality. Those in the lowest socioeconomic bracket have a threefold higher mortality than those in the highest socioeconomic bracket. Poverty is also not equally distributed throughout society in terms of risk and health impact. Disparities in incidence and impact are particularly severe for children and racial minorities. One in five children live in poverty as defined by the federal poverty level, and 41 percent live in low-income families. The stress associated with lower socioeconomic status creates biological and physical changes in the body, resulting in higher risks of disease and mortality. While detrimental in adulthood, these changes are devastating in childhood. Health in early life has lifelong effects on health status. The biological changes due to poverty in childhood limit developmental capacity. Poorer socioeconomic conditions during childhood cause an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood irrespective of adult socioeconomic status. In other words, your life expectancy not only depends on your current zip code but also the zip code where you were born. Childhood socioeconomic status becomes even more important for children with health problems, learning disabilities, or other diagnoses. Dr. Jen, a pediatrician who runs Good Sam’s Developmental Clinic, remembers the experience that prompted her to initiate the developmental clinic, along with a multidisciplinary team, to provide family assistance and health care for children with developmental disorders. Her son was diagnosed with autism prompting a personal journey to identify any resources that might assist him. “I had the ability to quit work,” she explains. “I could take him to speech therapy and occupational therapy.” She started volunteering at Good Sam and one day entered the exam room to find a mother sitting with her young son working on flashcards. The boy had been diagnosed with autism, but his mother was on her own to assist him. As a single mother working full-time she did not have the time or financial resources to supply him with additional support. “I saw this mom working with her kid the way I would be with mine,” Dr. Jen remembers. “Yet her resources were so much more limited than mine. It seemed so unfair that my child had a chance for a better outcome than her son.” The difference was not in their love for their children, work ethic, or dedication to providing the best they could, but rather a difference in socioeconomic status. Poverty is also more prevalent among racial and ethnic minorities. Twenty-four percent of black Americans and 21 percent of Hispanic Americans live at or below the poverty line compared to 9 percent of white Americans. Health disparities mirror these statistics. Black Americans have a higher death rate than white Americans for eight of the ten leading causes of death, and black infants are more than two times more likely to die than white infants. Segregation lies at the heart of health disparities as it shapes the socioeconomic conditions, education, and employment options at individual and community levels. Racism has a direct negative impact on health. A review of over one hundred studies found that experiencing racism was consistently associated with negative mental-health outcomes and health-related behaviors. Improving health outcomes depends on dismantling systems of oppression that allow racism and segregation to persist in the United States. The difficult reality is that systems that so devastatingly impact the lives of some, benefit the lives of others. Most people don’t want to see their neighbors suffer, and reading about the gross injustices within our wealthy nation is uncomfortable at best. Social determinants of health have largely been favorable to me as an upper-middle-class, well-educated white woman. The social constructs bringing privilege to me are working against the patients I see every day. Growing up, all of my health care providers looked like me. I never questioned whether I could join that profession someday. As a teenager, people asked me where I was going to college rather than what I was doing after graduation. My public school had ample resources, and my home had books filled with characters I could relate to. Racism and classism have worked to my advantage. This is an unsettling reality. As most people in poverty are not there as a direct result of their own actions, those on the upper rungs of social status did not choose comfort and longevity at the expense of others. Regardless, it does not absolve us from taking responsibility for this reality. As a society, we prefer situations that are win-win. We desire for the lives of others to be better, but not at the expense of our status and comfort. The problem lies not in whether or not such solutions exist, but in our definition of win. As I look at my life and work in the face of devastating injustice, I have a choice to start with the question, What will make my neighbors healthy? I have to be willing to accept that the answer might not be comfortable. In Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, he states that the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, it is justice. The gross disparities in health status and life expectancy in this country are symptoms of a deep, unrelenting injustice. **Taken from How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick by Veronica Squires and Breanna Lathrop. Copyright (c) 2018 by Veronica Squires and Breanna Lathrop. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com For review copies and interviews, send me a quick reply.See More

Installing a Disciple-Making Operational SystemToday we are having more conversations and producing more and better resources when it comes to disciple-making, but we are mostly getting the same results. Why? Because we don’t have a disciple-making problem, we have disciple making culture problem. The current operational system we are running in our churches are designed to provide religious services for religious people and until we install a new system we are going to see very little results, no matter what the programming or strategy. Continue reading here.JOIN US JANUARY 3RD @ 2PM EST FOR A FREE WEBINARRegister Now!See More

FOR YOU PERSONALLY—HOW TO USE THE 50 DAY DISCIPLESHIP CALENDAR—“SEEING CLEARLY… GOD’S WAY!” This Discipleship Calendar focuses on 1 Peter, handling pressures and the displeasures of others by seeing the way God sees. It can be a personal adventure with God guiding and “discipling” me or it can be used with several—in a family, a small group, etc. Bottom Line: Spending time with the Lord and His Word is invested time, never wasted time.HERE’S HOW DAILY…This 50-Day Discipleship Adventure is designed to give a specific focus each day grouped around one of Seven Faith Focus Points found in 1 Peter.Use the Scriptures for each day as your morning Quiet Time reading (or other times). The point is regular intake of God’s Word and praying God’s will God’s way.Read each Scripture.Meditate and Think it over.Pray that Scripture back to the Lord for yourself or for someone else.Ask God for wisdom, insight, and clear application to your life.Jot down your thoughts or a prayer request based on that Scripture.Focus First on the Lord and your relationship with Him. Pray for those God brings to mind—they need to know who God is and that He answers prayer. Let Him disciple you. Look for ways to share with others what He’s shown you—it’s part of making disciples who make disciples. Discipleship Options include your Personal Walk, Family Life, “Iron Sharpening Iron” with one or a group, Weekly Walk with others, Praying through the Scriptures, or some other creative way the Holy Spirit gives you.Welcome to the Adventure!RIck Shepherdrickshepherd414@gmail.com • 904-614-0097Click here for the complete calendar and instructional guideSee More

Thanks for visiting! Over the last 25+ years as a pastor, I have tried a lot of small group strategies. Some were absolute failures. Others were huge successes. After coaching hundreds of churches across the country, I’d like to help you Take the Guesswork Out of Groups.Who my blog can helpI launched this blog in 2007, first to train my own small group leaders, and then to help pastors and small group directors around the world. Churches of all sizes in a wide variety of denominations are coming together to learn how to Take the Guesswork Out of Groups.What I blog aboutI help small group pastors and directors learn how to effective recruit, train, coach and lead group leaders and how to develop the support structure which will help groups last for the long term.See More

The Future is Disciple Makingby Allen White | Dec 11, 2018 |Small groups are no longer making disciples at the rate they once were. For many churches, the purpose of groups is to assimilate new people and keep them connected so they won’t leave. Everyone needs to go where everybody knows their name, and they’re always glad you came… But, if the purpose of small groups ends with assimilation, host homes, and the church-wide campaign, then how are disciples being made? Host homes and campaigns are great to get groups going, but not so great for on-going discipleship.Disciple Making is Not Complex.Programs are complex. Disciple making is not. Jesus told us what we need to know to make disciples.First, Jesus gave us the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV). Jesus boiled 613 commands down to two: Love God and Love your neighbor. God is easy to love. But, neighbors, which neighbors? Look out the window.Second, Jesus gave us the Great Compassion in Matthew 25. “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45). Feed hungry people. Clothe those in need. Show hospitality to strangers. Visit the prisoner. Care for the sick. Essentially, love your neighbor as yourself. See #1.Third, Jesus gave us the Great Commission. Read this and try not to “yada, yada, yada” it. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus told us to “Go.” How well are we scattering? We’re pretty good at gathering. Jesus didn’t say the lost should come to our seeker services. That’s not working as well as it once did.Does this seem too simple? If our lives were focused on these things, we would grow. Our people would grow. As Jim Collins says in Good to Great, “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.”Disciple Making is Customized.Disciple Making relies on a system to produce disciples. When we hear the word system, we often resort to a manufacturing process, a catechism, or a training program. While some of these methods might add to disciple making, there is a considerable flaw in the thinking. People don’t come to us as raw materials. They aren’t blank slates. They have a past. They are different – genders, races, backgrounds, educations, experiences, personalities, gifting, callings, opportunities, abuses, and so many other things contribute to who people are. I’m not like you. You’re not like me. Yet, we are called to be like Jesus.While we must all know basic things about the Bible and what it teaches, how we reflect more of Jesus is a different journey for all of us. I grew up in church. That’s a funny statement, but we were there so often that at times it felt like we lived there. I learned all of the Bible stories in Sunday school. Our church was more of the Arminian persuasion, so I’ve gone to the altar more than 100 times to make sure I was saved. I called this eternal insecurity.I learned to live by a code of conduct which included no smoking, no alcohol, no dancing, no movies, no playing cards, and the list went on. In my church we couldn’t belly up to the bar, but we could belly up to the buffet. That’s how we got the bellies!In a holiness tradition, there is a fine line between setting yourself apart for God and becoming legalistic. Legalism defined the don’ts for me, but not all of the don’ts. The don’ts seemed more significant than the do’s. But, if I lived better than other people, then God would bless me. The others got what they deserved. I didn’t need to understand people from other backgrounds. They were sinners. They were going to hell. There wasn’t a lot of love going around.Now, put me in your church. How could you help me become more like Jesus? How can I learn to love my neighbor as myself? How can I see people who are different from me as people who God loves? I don’t need to know more of the Bible. I know it. Bring on the Bible Jeopardy!How would you affect my attitudes and my behavior? How could I think more like Christ? How could I act more like Christ? By the definition set in the church I grew up in, I’m a model citizen. I fit with the tribe. They’re proud of me. Yet, I lack so much.This is where cookie cutter disciple making goes wrong. We produce rule followers with cold hearts and no actions to demonstrate God’s love to those who are far from Him.Fortunately, I’m much different now than where I was when I graduated from high school. But, it wasn’t college, seminary, or another church’s process that got me there. It was something unique that God is doing in my life. I’m not the exception here.My friend John Hampton, Senior Pastor of Journey Christian Church, Apopka, FL lost a ton of weight recently. By ton, I mean, 50-60 lbs. and he’s kept it off. How did he do it? He joined a gym who gave him a personal trainer. The trainer’s first question was “What do you want to work on?” The trainer didn’t prescribe a standard course of physical fitness. The trainer connected with what John was motivated to change. In turn, John’s team is now sitting down with people at their church and asking them, “What do you want to work on?” Then, offering a next step to get them started.There is nothing outside of us that can motivate us more than what is inside of us. For the believer, God is inside of us – in case you didn’t know where I was going there. What we are motivated to change right now should be the thing we focus on changing. If we don’t sense a need to change, then we need to bring that question to God: “What do you want to work on?”Disciple Making is Obedience.The last phrase in the Great Commission punched me between the eyes not long ago: “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Read the phrase again. What did Jesus tell us to teach disciples? Hint: Jesus did not say to teach his commands. Jesus instructed us to teach obedience.In the area where I live, everyone goes to church. There are more than 75 other churches within 10 miles of the church I attend. It’s part of the culture. While these church-going folks are faithful to church attendance, it doesn’t stop them from being hateful, passive-aggressive, and racist. There’s a high incidence of domestic violence here. The daily news is not good news. Now, this isn’t everybody. But, with so much access to church, you’d expect people to be a little more like Jesus. Bible knowledge is there, but changes in attitudes and behaviors are lacking.Recently, a man who grew up here, told me about his family history in the area. His family has lived here for over 100 years. It’s a colorful family history – running moonshine and other illegal activities. At one point, he told me, “My grandmother was a fine Christian woman, well, except for running a brothel.” I had no response.Concluding ThoughtsHow’s your disciple making? What results are you seeing? What’s missing?There is so much to unpack here. Please join me in the comments for a discussion. We’ve got to get our people beyond just coping with life. We’re on a mission. How can your members join that mission?The Disciple Makers Coaching Group is forming for 2019. If you are interested in learning from experts in disciple-making like Mike Breen (January 2019), Pete Scazzero, Gary Thomas, Lance Witt (April 2019, and others, you can find more information HERE.See More